Across Canada, 85 per cent of murders are solved by police. With aboriginal women that number is much lower, only 53 per cent, according to the association.

Missing aboriginal women are also less likely to be found.

Angel was reported missing June 12, 2007.

At a volunteer search party organized in July of that year, a police officer couldn’t say what areas of town had been combed.

Posters about the missing woman were sent to communities in Alberta and British Columbia in October.

But the posters weren’t needed.

A month later, Angel’s body was found in the Pilot Mountain subdivision.

Wendy attended the public RCMP review organized earlier this month.

“I went because I never talked to police for three years,” she said.

She thinks police should be quicker at searching for missing people.

They should start looking right away and not wait the mandatory 24 hours before they go out, she said.

Two years before Angel disappeared, Wendy’s cousin in Fort St. John disappeared.

But she never thought it could happen to her daughter.

“I was always very protective of (Angel),” said Wendy.

She was hesitant to uproot her daughter and son and move them to Whitehorse.

In Good Hope Lake, BC, where they grew up, people in the community always looked out for her and her children, she said.

Moving to the city strained Wendy’s relationship with her family.

Angel ended up on the street and her brother was put in foster care.

At 17, Angel started working at the Blue Feather Youth Centre.

It was tough at first. She was homeless and addicted to alcohol.

A year later, though, she had landed an apartment, was helping manage the centre and mentoring kids there, said executive director Vicki Durrant in a previous interview with the News.

Her dream was to graduate and adopt her brother out of foster care.

Angel also wanted to find a permanent place for her mother to live, she told a News reporter days before she went missing.

Wendy was extremely close to her daughter, she said.

“I keep thinking about her everyday and I try to keep strong,” said Wendy.

With counselling she’s been able to tell the stories of her daughter once again.

“It’s good to remember,” said Wendy.

“It keeps you stronger and keeps you smiling.”

People who have any information regarding missing and murdered aboriginal women in the Yukon or would like more information regarding the Yukon Sisters in Spirit project can contact Courtney Wheelton at the Yukon Aboriginal Women’s Council at 667-6162 or at ysis@northwestel.net